This invention relates to a ball valve for accommodating liquid flow such as water and will have specific application to the design of the ball element within the valve.
The rotatable ball element in the ordinary ball valve is subjected to hydraulic moments created by fluid flow through the valve in such a manner that there is a tendency for the ball element to be abruptly urged into its closed position if the handle for rotating the ball element is released when the ball element is in an intermediate open position. Efforts to equalize the hydraulic moments exerted upon the rotatable valve element in related globe valves are found in German Pat. Nos. 858 178, issued Dec. 4, 1952, and 934 920, issued Nov. 10, 1955. Such efforts were principally directed to the relief of vacuum pockets formed about the rotative valve element with the valve element being constructed to rotate in one direction.
In the following described invention the ball element of the ball valve is designed with a plurality of reaction faces by which the hydraulically created moments exerted upon the ball element during liquid flow through the valve are substantially neutralized.